MJ Donovan
"I have been lied to, every single day of my life by every person I ever trusted. I just want... No, I need''' '''to hear the truth now." Mireille Jolie "MJ" Donovan Le Roy, who was originally named Mallory Justine Layton by her adoptive parents, is the oldest child of Claudia Donovan. She was raised by the Laytons alongside their son, Ben, and was unaware of the fact that they weren't her biological parents for a long time. Her own son, Etienne, lived with her for the first three years of his life. Then she was institutionalized, and the child went to live with his father. However, two years later, his second parent was also taken away from him, because he went to jail for financial crimes. Ben took care of the boy afterwards, until MJ escaped from the psych ward and finally returned to him. MJ's Story MJ was born one month before her due date to Claudia Donovan during the latter's stay in a mental institution in Minneapolis. At the time, her mother was only 17 years old, and heavily intoxicated, because her assigned doctor drugged her on a regular basis. Claudia was thought to have delusions, while she was actually "haunted" by her older brother, who was trapped in a pocket dimension and tried to contact her. After she was delivered, MJ remained silent for a few minutes. A nurse called Florence carried the baby away after telling the young mother that she was stillborn. While Claudia cried and struggled against her restrains, Florence walked away with her daughter, who was very much alive. The nurse believed that the girl would be better off growing up with herself, her wealthy husband and their then one year old son Ben. She had always wanted a daughter, and figured Claudia would not be capable of raising her as well as she could. The Laytons (ca. 2008-2027) That is how MJ became Mallory Justine Layton, the daughter of Judge Marshall Layton and his wife Florence, as well as the younger sister of rebel Benedict Tennyson "Ben" Layton. Unaware of her true origin, Mallory quickly turned into a true Layton. She got straight As in school, where she was also quite popular, since her father was the most renown judge of the state and her family was easily the wealthiest around. She did as her parents told her, and spent every day of her young years preparing for her unquestionably glorious future. Of course, there could only be one Number 1, and she outshone her brother in every aspect. She was smarter, more well-behaved, and always only brought home friends and boyfriends she knew Marshall and Florence would approve of. She was the perfect daughter, while Ben derailed more and more with every passing month. Their rivalry was unavoidable. Ben just wanted their parents to acknowledge him for once. Just a single "We love you too, Benny", or even just a hug. But he realized very early on that he couldn't keep up with Little Miss Perfect, so he just stopped trying. He started hanging out with the wrong people, and allowed them to feed him with bad influences and illegal drugs. His sister, the pride of the family, of course could not understand that. From her point of view, they had everything anyone could possibly ask for. She didn't realize then that the pressure their parents put on her had already started eating her from the inside out, and that she wasn't that much better off than Ben. The Templetons (ca. 2027-2032) Marshall and Florence knew that it would become more difficult to control Mallory as she grew up and became an adult, so they did their very best to steer their daughter's life into the "right direction" early on, going as far as declaring Preston Templeton her future husband. Preston, the son of a wealthy business man and one of MJ's classmates, presented himself as the ideal candidate right away. He was always polite, respected their wishes (more so than MJ's, even), and obviously listened to every command his father gave him. He was bound to take over his company someday, and between the two family's wealth, it would be difficult for the young couple to run out of money or power. It was a perfect match, at least in the eyes of their parents. MJ was never quite sure how she felt about Preston, or how he felt about her. As it turns out, her doubts were justified. When 20 year old Mallory told her boyfriend that they were going to have a baby, the facade fell apart. He yelled at her, saying he stayed with her because his parents wanted it and because they'd practically own Minnesota once they got married. He was planning an open, childless relationship, giving them access to each other's wealth and power without "handcuffing" them to each other. They broke up, much to the dismay of their parents. It was then, when Marshall and Florence scolded her for not trying harder and saving the future they had planned for her, that she realized her happiness wasn't the highest of their priorities. They wanted her to marry a man who didn't care about her, and even suggested an abortion in order to get them back on track. She started to distance herself from her family more and more, focusing on her job and her pregnancy, which she was left alone with. The most support she got came from her boss, a famed scientist. He liked the young woman and saw much potential in her mind, so he told her to take off a year and return when she could. She kept on working in the lab until her last trimester came around, and then accepted his offer to stay at home until her baby was almost a year old. Said baby turned out to be a boy with dark hair and brilliant blue eyes, whom she named Etienne. The Institution (2032-2038) In her twenties, MJ firstly discovered her superhuman gift. She liquefied little things around her home and the lab, just by touching them. She couldn't explain that ability, and because she couldn't control it, she deemed it a destructive curse. She hid it for months, until Florence found out and everything derailed. Her adoptive mother yelled at her, shouted that she must be possessed by the devil, evil or insane. She manifested a terrible fear within her daughter: What if she hurt people? What if she hurt her son? To protect Etienne, she would do anything. Florence had her committed, stuck in a shady mental institution. That same institution Claudia was in, the same Florence worked at once and the same MJ was born in. The conditions there had only gotten worse throughout the years. Patients were treated badly, constantly drugged and used to test new treatments. Some of the employees even knew about supernatural beings, and took a special interest in MJ. The following years were torture for her, but she endured it. She hoped to be cured, to return home one day as the mother Etienne deserved rather than a threat in disguise. They slowly turned her into an empty shell of the woman she used to be, skinny, defeated and barely alive. It took a lot to open her eyes so she could see the truth. A particularly cruel, altered treatment almost killed her for good, but her powers saved her by eliminating the doctor who experimented on her. She was shocked to see his steaming corpse lying on the floor, blood and melted organs spilling from his lips. Now she knew for sure that her ability was lethal. MJ escaped that day by using her powers on the restraints and a window. She injured two nurses on her way out, and arrived outside with several damaged bones, but she got away and that's what mattered. In that hellhole, people just kept on hurting and scaring her, triggering her gift. She couldn't risk another incident like that, if they even let her live after the first one. Physical Appearance Mireille reaches roughly the same height as her mother, Claudia, and also has the same light brown eyes and naturally dark brown hair as the Caretaker. Since she's reconnected with her biological family, she often hears that their relation is pretty much undeniable. Skills & Powers MJ is a highly intelligent woman, just like her mother. However, unlike Claudia or Cordelia, she's more interested in mathematics, chemistry or history than computers or machines. She graduated from an elite university, summa cum laude, when she was only 20 years old. As a child, she taught herself how to speak French. By the time she turned 14, she was fluent. She also studied a bit of Italian, Greek and, of course, Latin. As she got older, she took an interest in dead languages in general. Aside from her extraordinary intellect, Mireille also has something supernatural in her veins. In her twenties, she figured out that she could liquefy solid matter merely by touching it. Later on, she also figured out how to solidify or freeze liquids the same way. Eventually, once she learned to accept her gift, she could change the state of matter of almost anything, into almost anything: Liquid, solid, gas or plasma. She uses freezing to walk on water, for example, or sublimation to walk through walls. Her ability can easily become lethal, which is why she avoids using it on living organisms most of the time. Personality & Habits Relationships Claudia Donovan (mother) Despite the fact that MJ was taken from her mother the night she was born, she always had an impact on Claudia's life. First she offered her hope, then she became a source of sorrow when she allegedly died before she could truly live. She simultaneously showed Claudia that a family could still be in her future, that she still craved to have one, and reminded her just how much it can hurt to lose someone you love, especially a child. It bred both the wish and the fear of having kids in Claudia, leaving her with terrible grief and regret for over twenty years. When they finally reunited, she was overwhelmed. Her daughter was alive, but she missed so many years of her life. She couldn't be there for MJ when she should've been. These thoughts haunted her every night, causing her to rotate around Mireille by day for several months. Etienne Donovan (son) Marshall & Florence Layton (adoptive parents) Ben Layton (adoptive brother) "It's kind of funny, you know? We grew up together, barely looking at each other. And now that we figured out we're not even siblings, we become besties." ''"Yeah, no need to exaggerate like that. But... Thank you, for everything. I never thought I'd say this, but I owe you more than I could ever repay." '' ''- Ben & MJ, 2038 in Minnesota '' MJ and Ben had a rather strained bond as they grew up. In between them lay few common interests and a rivalry driven by their parents' expectations. "Mallory" quickly became the favorite child, the perfect daughter, and Ben eventually gave up on trying to outrun her. They went down two very different paths, and never got a chance to really get to know each other. That is, until MJ left the institution behind in 2038. She came to him and found out he'd been taking care of her son, Etienne, for a few years. Once she realized that he had been taking that task very seriously, that he'd grown up a lot to do so, he became a confidant and dear friend to her. Claire, Cordelia & Olivia-Darina Jinks (maternal half-sisters) Steve Jinks (step-father) When MJ came to Univille, she had a hard time processing that her biological mother had a husband and other daughters. it surely wasn't easy for Steve either when she just showed up on their doorstep, but he'd known about Claudia's teenage pregnancy and had a somewhat similar experience when he found out that his sister, Olivia, was in fact still alive. He treated the situation calmly, and approached his step-daughter with care and kindness, which made it much easier for her to consider him family and feel a little more at home. Preston Templeton (ex-boyfriend) Nolan Templeton Trivia *While MJ was a straight A student in almost every subject, the ones she ''really ''liked were French and physics. She's also into classic literature, but always disliked how her favorite works were either forgotten or misinterpreted in class. *When she got her degree, she was only 20 years old. That was possible due to her skipping whole grades and finishing high school at age 16. *She went to a fancy private high school just outside of Minneapolis, along with Ben and Preston. Ben, however, was kicked out for smoking on the premises in their sophomore year, while she and Preston ended up as King and Queen at their senior prom. *Mallory, the name her adoptive mother gave her, literally means "unfortunate/unlucky one". *She got her original middle name, Justine, from her adoptive father. As a judge, Marshall felt like a name representing justice would look good on his daughter's birth certificate. *Mireille is a French name, pronounced "meer-AY", and means "to admire". It has been her dream name ever since she saw it on the cover of a children's book when she was 7. Her new middle name, Jolie, is also French, and means "pretty". Category:All Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Original Characters Category:Belladonna's Blossoms Category:Donovan Family Category:Born: 2000s Category:Born: June Category:Layton Family Category:2nd Generation Category:Adopted Category:Characters: Beyond Human